A New Dawn
by Saturdaychick
Summary: Previously, Erik and Lisette, the girl he rescued who was now under his protection and in his heart, transitioned to her wolf state for the first time, while living in Erik's lair. This story is the morning after that night.


**A New Dawn**

Slowly, Lisette opened her eyes, and blinked, she sat up, shook her head and looked around, remembering where she was. Then, she smiled to herself. She was naked on a quilt, the quilt Erik had placed on the floor to make her comfortable during her transition. Wrapping the quilt around her, she stood and turned to study the room. Her room. She had no idea of her own consciousness when she was in wolf form, nor did she remember how the wolf reacted or felt, the transformation was so complete.

She noted the scratches and claw marks at the base of the door, and frowned a little. Would Erik be annoyed about that? Knowing Erik, she doubted it. Her heart warmed at the thought of him, and reaching up on her toes found the key on the top of the dresser where she had placed it. She unlocked her door, and carefully opened it, startling Erik, who was still leaning on it, having fallen asleep keeping watch.

"Oh!" Lisette exclaimed, as Erik, running a hand through his hair, trying to tame his disheveled appearance, stood and faced her. Lisette, beautiful, lovely, his own Lisette, was back. She laughed in delight, "You waited outside my door all night, Erik? You are indeed a chivalrous gentleman."

"Not quite so chivalrous, my dear" he looked down at his violin and bent to retrieve it and set it back in its case against the wall. "I fell asleep, anything could have happened and not awakened me."

"You kept me safe. By being locked in the room, no harm came to me, nor did I inflict any." She looked up into his eyes. Her own, mirroring his. Both had the same unusual amber coloring.  
"What do you mean, Lisette, " Erik asked, calmly, "have you ever inflicted harm on any person while in your wolf state?"  
"No, Erik. Never. I meant on livestock. I have been known to kill a sheep or two when deer or rabbit were scarce. At least that is what I believe. Or heard. Town's people did not take that kind of thing lightly. I have no memory of what I do exactly, as a wolf. I'm afraid I rather damaged your door."

Erik laughed out loud, "I would replace a hundred doors to keep you safe!" He reached down and scooped the young woman, quilt and all, into his arms, and hugged her to him. "Let me care for you, my dear. After such a trying night, you could use a warm bath." He carried her and placed her gently down in the bathing room. He knelt and turned the golden faucets on and placed a stopper at the base so it would fill. Soaps and shampoos sat on shelves along the wall. Clean towels sat on the top shelves. He reached for two of them and placed them on a towel rack. Turning, he took a box of matches and lit the gaslight sconces on the walls, adding a soft glow to the room. "I will leave you to have your privacy, my dear."

Lisette, turning, reached out and caught his hand, "No, Erik. Stay. Keep me company."  
He stared at her a moment. "I will return in a minute," he said quietly. He stepped outside and then returned with the chair from her room and placed it near the door and seated himself upon it. He removed his dress coat and hung it on the back of the chair, as the steam from the bath was heating up the room, and rolled up his shirt sleeves. He felt oddly shy, although upon first meeting her, she had been a wolf and then transitioned to the lovely, naked young woman now before him. She had dropped the quilt, and ran a hand in the running bath water, turned to smile at him, and then stepped in. She certainly had no embarrassment about her lack of clothing around him. He looked at her, at her lovely figure, her petite stature, her white blonde hair. He should paint her, he thought to himself, and was just thinking of what setting to pose her in when she spoke, disrupting his reverie.

"Will you wash my hair?" she asked softly. "My mother used to do it for me. Long ago. I remember the feeling, though, that once she loved me. Before she tried to kill me, that is."

Erik looked at her blankly for a moment, his heart aching for her. He knew what it was to be spurned by the person who was supposed to love you more than anything. His mother despised him from the moment of his birth.

He stood and reached for the shampoo, lavender scented, and for the rose scented soap and then for a washcloth. Taking these items, he knelt beside the bath and placed them on the edge of the marble tub. It was like a dream, the girl before him, trusting him, wanting him, even. The gaslights flickered, adding to the dreamlike sensation. Lisette, leaned back in the tub, letting her shoulder length hair stream behind her, then sat up, and looked over her shoulder at Erik, expectantly.

He opened the bottle and poured some into his hand, then, turning back to Lisette, he gently worked the scented shampoo into the strands of her hair, then, tenderly massaging it through until it turned to lather and covered it. He stopped and dried his hands on a towel as she reclined back into the water until her hair was under it, and she reached up and worked her hands through it until it rinsed away all remnants of the shampoo.

Without another word between them, he picked up a washcloth, dipped it into the bath water, rubbed the rose soap on it and then carefully washed Lisette's back and shoulders. Finding it too awkward to continue he handed the cloth to her, and taking it she used it to wash the rest of her being, then lay back in the water and sighed, "Thank you, Erik. That was lovely. I feel reborn."

He watched her carefully, then stood, "I will bring you some fresh clothes, my dear. I will leave them on the chair. When you are through, I rather fear I need a good cleansing myself. It was a rough night for me as well."

"Of course, Erik. Thank you."

And with that he left closing the door behind him and went to her room, where he sat on the bed and placed his head in his hands, thinking. What was he doing? How did this happen? Did he deserve this young woman's affections? "Yes!" his heart cried out, "Yes!, " he thought, "I love her. For once, I love someone who returns my feelings. I love someone who is as cursed by fate as I have been. I love her with all my heart and soul and being."  
He glanced around at the room, and smiled. The steak was gone and the water dish was empty. Not much damage had been done by the wild creature formerly contained within these walls. He looked at the door. There were scratches and claw marks defacing the lower portion. He laughed out loud! He had kept the girl he loved safe. If he could continue to protect her, their life together would be a happy one.  
He turned to her closet and chose stockings, under things, a pretty green dress with black lace trim and a pair of green and black boots. Carrying these items back to the bathroom, he opened the door and found Lisette, wrapped in a towel, seated on the chair and combing out her hair.

"I will leave these here, then," he said as he draped the clothing on the chair behind her and the boots on the floor within easy reach. She smiled at him, "Thank you, Erik. I will be done soon." He nodded, and left to go to his own room and gather his own fresh clothing. Once he was bathed, he would make her a breakfast. He seemed to be ravenous and knew she must be as well.

Listte was fully dressed and looking breathtakingly beautiful. "I won't be long," he told her. She smiled sweetly at him. But there was something mischievous about her expression. He glanced at her questioningly, then made his way back to the bathroom.

Once he had run the water and lay back in it to enjoy its warmth, the door opened. Lisette walked towards him. Although Erik had seen her naked, she had never seen him, nor was he in any rush for her to do so. His back was a ribbon of scars, and his chest and arms bore scars as well, inflicted by his cruel gypsy master and some from scrapes and conflicts he'd faced during his travels, some at the hands of the Shah of Mazanderan. Nothing he'd want any woman he cared about to see and feel squeamish about.

Lisette knelt beside the tub, studying him. Erik shuddered, frozen, suddenly, even in the warmth of the bath. Uncertainty filled him. Then, Listette took a washcloth and dipped it in the bath, as he watched her cautiously. She lathered it with the rose soap and motioned for him to turn around then gently, gently she washed his back, pausing to reach over and kiss his scars, and stroke them with great tenderness, then carefully washed his arms and reaching around, his chest, glancing up at Erik's face with great love in her expression, he allowed her to rinse the soap from him with the cloth and to wash his hair… something no one, as far as his memory stretched back, had ever done before.

Meanwhile… in another part of the Opera House, Meg and Antoinette Giry were discussing Christine with great concern. "She seems so unlike herself," Antoinette was saying, as she poured coffee for herself and her daughter. They were seated at the dining table in their suite of rooms. "Ever since she returned to us, she has been quiet and withdrawn. At last night's production she brought the house down, but you and I both know, there was no passion in that performance. Something is upsetting her. Do you have any idea?"

"I know one thing, Mama, and this is between us, but she left Raoul because she still loves Erik. She came back to declare herself to him, isn't that so romantic?"  
"Yes, yes, go on," Antoinette encouraged her daughter to continue.  
"Well, so she said she was going to see him, last week. But she returned and threw herself on the bed. I mean, I imagine she did, because when I went to get her for the rehearsal, she was lying on the bed and she was weeping, Mama. She said "Erik doesn't love me anymore. He doesn't want me. My Angel has found someone else."

"Erik? Erik has someone new? You know, it's true I haven't seen him lately," Antoinette said thoughtfully, "but Christine was the love of his life! He would have done anything to win her heart and when she left with Raoul, she did indeed break his. He seemed inconsolable. But who could Erik have found to take Christine's place? It seems that I will just have to pay Monsieur Opera Ghost a visit."  
And below, down, down, in the fifth cellar of the Opera House, Erik and Lisette were about to enjoy a sumptuous breakfast. Seated beside each other, Erik reached over and taking Liestte's hand, he placed a kiss upon it. Lisette, in turn grasped Erik's, and glancing up at him, placed her own kiss upon his. Another first that Erik and Lisette shared together.


End file.
